EAST LANSING — On the first day of soccer practice this spring, Novi coach Tod Pheiffer had a lecture for his defending-champion Wildcats.

“We graduated 10 seniors from last year. That was last year’s team, that was their championship, now we’re playing for this year’s championship,” he told the girls. “We had a lot of key players back and that was great because we had a lot of experience, but this was this year’s team.”

That message resonated with Jessie Bandyk.

“Coming off of a winning season, people think, ‘Oh, it’s a rebuilding year, you’re losing all these seniors,’ but it really wasn’t,” the senior captain said. “Looking back, it’s crazy, because we won every game. It was definitely unexpected coming off of last season. We just took it in stride and we came back and got another state championship.”

Julia Stadtherr (20) congratulates Jesse Bandyk on a second-half goal against Plymouth on Saturday, June 15, 2019, in the Division 1 state championship. Stadtherr got the assist.(Photo: Wright Wilson, Special to Detroit Free Press)

Behind Bandyk’s pair of second-half goals Saturday, the calm and collected Wildcats frustrated Kensington Lakes West Division foe Plymouth, 5-0, to win their second straight Division 1 soccer title, the seventh in school history.

Novi eked out a 1-0 upset win over top-ranked Grand Blanc in 2018. This year, though, 28-0-1 Novi was the No. 1 team, and — as Pheiffer would have it — there was no comparison.

“Last year we came in as the underdog, so we were able to go into the game like ‘Let’s just leave it out there, whatever happens,’” said Julia Stadtherr, who had a goal and two assists. “This year there was a lot more pressure, but we also had people with the experience of being in that state championship game, so that canceled it out.”

Avery Fenchel and Lexi Whalen gave Novi a 2-0 lead with their first-half goals. But Stadherr said it wasn’t a comfortable lead, since the Wildcats had played Plymouth (19-5-1) twice earlier and knew of their tendencies.

“Going into the second half we just wanted to score as many goals as we could and really solidify the lead,” she said. “Plymouth has a pattern of coming back from 2-0 over the course of the state tournament so we knew, at halftime, 2-0 wasn’t good enough, we had to get more goals.”

Novi’s play was as dominant as the final score indicated, as they outshot Plymouth 25-5. Freshman goalkeeper Sammy Maday earned the shutout — Novi’s 23rd in 29 games.

Novi senior Jessie Bandyk wrestles the ball away from Plymouth's Emily Lennig on Saturday, June 15, 2019, in the Division 1 state championship.(Photo: Wright Wilson, Special to Detroit Free Press)

Even though the outcome wasn’t in doubt, winning brought a feeling of relief to Bandyk.

“This year we had a lot more riding on us,” she said. “If you talk to anyone on this team, it was more nerve-wracking this year. You’re expected to win, so if you don’t, you definitely disappoint a lot of people, but we just tried to put that behind us and not let that get in our heads. It’s another soccer game — we just had to give it our all and work hard.”

Division 2

It's a three-peat for Bloomfield Hills Marian.

Marian defeated Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, 2-1 in OT on Friday night, claiming the third straight state championship. All three titles came against Forest Hills Northern. It's also the eighth title for the program since 2003.

Forest Hills Northern led at intermission after Grace Sayers' goal. Emily Rassell tied it in the second half.

The game-winner came with 4:18 left in the second overtime period as Maria Askounis put the ball in the net after a Marian cornerkick.

Division 3

Grand Rapids South Christian shut out Essexville Garber, 3-0, on Friday to win the Division 3 state championship. It was the 20th shutout posted by South Christian this season.

South Christian scored two goals in the first half and added a second in the third. Emma DeVries scored twice and Joz VanTol added the third. South Christian put up 15 shots on goal compared to Garber's eight.

South Christian also won the title back in 2013.

Division 4

For the first time in school history, Royal Oak Shrine are state champions.

Shrine scored two goals in the first half and another two in the second to lead them to the 4-0 win over Kalamazoo Christian. It's the first state championship in school history for any sport.